BA, BTech courses lose sheen over past 5 years; here’s why

Even though arts and engineering programmes witness decline at the undergraduate level, there has been seen an increase in the enrolment numbers at the Masters level and by gender too.The Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Technology (BTech) programmes which are quite popular among undergraduate students seem to be falling out of favour with the Indian students, according to the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2018-19. The statistical data shows that the enrolment numbers for both BTech and BA have fallen as compared to 2014-15.

The enrolment in the BA programmes across the country was 98.6 lakh five years ago. In the year 2018-19, this figure fell to 91.9 lakh. Similarly, the students enrolling for BTech courses in 2014-15 fell from 42.5 lakh to 37.7 lakh last year. Engineering seats in many states have remained vacant this year, hinting at the falling preference of the degree course by students.

However, an increase in enrolment was registered in other undergraduate level programmes, including Bachelor of Commerce (BCom), Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS).

B.Ed programme recorded the biggest jump where enrolment reached over 11 lakh in 2018-19 from 6.5 lakh in the year 2014-15. All the programmes at the Masters level also showed an increase in student enrolment.

An overall rise in enrolment numbers

According to the survey, the overall registrations of students at both – undergraduate and postgraduate levels increased by 9.3 per cent which is up from 3.42 crore students in 2014-15 to 3.74 the past academic year.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) also increased to 26.3 from 24.3 in the same period.

Talking about the gender-wise enrolment, 2018-19 saw the highest number of women in higher education. Over 1.81 crore women were enrolled into higher education at various levels this year which has risen from 1.57 crore five years ago while the number of men who registered for higher education this year is over 1.92 crore. This shows an improvement in the gender ratio.